Memorial of Saint
John Vianney, priest
(Jeremiah 28:1-17; Matthew 14:22-36)
A man tells of a particularly trying time. His wife was just diagnosed with cancer, and
he felt his world crumbling. He had the
responsibility of closing his parish church every night and this night he
stopped in his rounds with a plea for mercy.
Then, he says, he felt what seemed like an arm grasping him around the
back and a voice telling him that everything will be okay, not to worry. How else could the man interpret this
experience except as a divine intervention?
He felt like the apostles in today’s gospel after seeing the Lord Jesus.
The passage is often taken as an allegory for the early
Church in crisis. Jesus is risen and
ascended into heaven. The nascent Church,
symbolized by the little boat, is having great difficulty, perhaps from
persecution or maybe from internal disputes.
The stormy sea represents primordial, destructive forces that always
threaten human projects with annihilation.
But the Lord, who seemed to the apostles to be absent, is actually on
his way to help them. He tells them not
worry. He even bids their leader to act
boldly in face of the chaos.
Just as much as forces of destruction are constantly threatening
the order of creation, we should realize that Jesus, whom Peter rightly
identifies in the passage as “Lord,” stands on guard. He will help us, but let us not forget in our
distress to call on him.
